Indiana State University Newsroom

Interior design professor receives Community-Based Learning Award

April 17, 2014

Azizi Arrington- Bey, assistant professor of interior architecture design at Indiana State University, received the Community-Based Learning and Scholarship Award during the university's Faculty Recognition Banquet Thursday (April 17). The award recognizes outstanding faculty who have made serving the community an integral part of their academic goals and activities.

She was recognized in part for upgrading an entry-level drafting class to teach freshman students the importance of construction and how that fits into interior design. Through a series of projects, students used their creativity to design and build two full-size playhouses, which were auctioned as a fundraiser for Chances and Services for Youth.

"I am very honored to receive the Community-Based Learning and Scholarship Award," Arrington-Bey said. "I'm proud of my students -- they put in a lot of work and really learned a lot doing the playhouse project. I appreciate the support by the university, the Center for Community Engagement, Lilly Endowment and community organizations such as Chances and Services for Youth who help to provide these unique, hands-on learning opportunities for our students."

Designing, collaborating, and constructing two-dimensional ideas into 3-D reality "is one of the best parts of design and hopefully this project will stick with the students throughout their careers," she said. "I am excited to see the designs my students create when we do this again."

Arrington-Bey has been at Indiana State for three years in the College of Technology's department of built environment. She is a licensed architect and registered interior designer. She was born and raised in Cleveland, and ventured to Florida to attend college at Florida A&M University. She worked in the state of Florida as a project manager for four years and an adjunct professor for five years before coming back to the Midwest. Her research interest focuses on relationships between architecture/design and the arts. She also volunteers as a Girl Scout Brownie Troop leader.